Democracy is not a once achieved goal - it requires ongoing work by all of us to make sure it works. This includes engagement in both formal politics (often call 'big P' Politics and includes voting) as well as 'small p' politics (the everyday engagement with our communities, neighbourhoods and online involvement such as [...]

This blog was written almost 12 months ago and in that time so much has changed – but the post itself remains relevant so I am re-posting on my new website. I was also surprised at the overwhelming response to my essay discussing the work of the amazing artist, Kathrin Longhurst, and her portrayal of [...]

Someone who has always inspired me is educational philosopher Paolo Freire. One of the reasons is that he argues that as educators, we should experience inner transformations as we work to transform the lives of our students. Freire presents us with the concept of ‘threshold’, which he drew from Martin Heidegger (a complex and flawed [...]

I have just finished reading the autobiography of United States Senator, Professor Elizabeth Warren, titled A Fighting Chance. I am a bit of a fan of Senator Warren ever since I saw her discussing the causes of the Global Financial Crisis all over US television explaining the culpability of the banks and the hollowing [...]

Last week I gave the opening keynote at the 34th International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education (or ASCILITE) which was hosted by The University of Southern Queensland. The conference was amazing - and I felt truly lucky to be able to indulge myself in the [...]

Before beginning this blog, I want to say that a ballot (or poll) on same sex marriage (or marriage equality) is one of the worst policy failures I have ever witnessed (up there with energy ‘policy’ and climate change ‘action’). It is less about policy formation and more about an ideological battle within the Liberal/National [...]

We can confidently say we are living in the age of the algorithm. Some of the most influential organisations of our day use secret algorithms that steer us towards what we should read and watch, recommend restaurants and holiday destinations, as well as provide relationship guidance. But what about how we vote? The innovation [...]

Despite 20 years of focus on improving university retention rates, we are still losing one in five of our first-year students. And the release of a new report by TEQSA again reminds us of the challenges of retention. The report highlights that, on average, universities have a 20% attrition rate. This builds on an article by The [...]

I have now been an academic for just over 10 years. It is a job I love, and I have been lucky enough to experience some success. I work with some amazing people, get to sit in a classroom with amazing students, have great colleagues, and for some reason I am yet to fathom, [...]

It is amazing to think that, as The Guardian reported earlier this year, vinyl albums sales now outstrip those of CDs - sales hit a 25 year high. It was not that long ago that people were predicted the death of vinyl - it was seen as 'old technology' that would not survive changing technologies. This has not happened [...]